The political game of doublespeak

The Gujrat High Court verdict on the appointment of the Lokayukta has exposed the doublespeak of both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Both the parties are also betraying people on the issue of inducting corrupt and criminal elements. If the BJP is using Babu Singh Kushwaha, who was sacked by UP chief minister Mayawati on charges of corruption, the Congress has given tickets for UP assembly elections to several corrupt and criminal elements, including two convicted candidates.

Also, when the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) found misappropriation of funds by Mayawati government in NRHM, both the BJP and the Congress use it against Mayawati but raise questions over the ‘limit’ of the CAG when it finds scam in purchase of coffin (in NDA regime) and in allotment of 2G spectrum (in UPA rule).

In Gujarat, the appointment of the Lokayukta was pending since 2003. The governor, Kamla Beniwal, appointed the Lokayukta on the advice of the chief justice of the High Court on August 25, 2011. According to the Lokayukta Act of Gujarat, the advice of the chief justice is binding. The Modi government challenged governor’s order in the High Court which ruled in the favour of the governor. After the decision, the BJP raised the question of federalism. Its leader said that in a federal structure, a governor, who is appointed by the Centre, cannot rule over the duly elected executive. When the governor had appointed the Lokayukta last year, the BJP had then described it as interfere of the Congress-led UPA government in the affair of the state through its appointed governor. On the other hand, the Congress has described the High Court judgment as victory of the democracy in Gujarat. Congress leaders, particularly Digvijaya Singh, mocked at the BJP and accused it of adopting double standards. The Congress leaders were right to some extent because the BJP took a high moral stand over the Lokpal bill in parliament advocating a strong ombudsman to check corruption but took no action for appointment of the Lokayukta in Gujarat. Under similar circumstances, last year in August, Karnataka governor HR Bhardwaj had given approval to prosecution of chief minister BS Yeddyurappa on the recommendation of the Lokayukta, Justice Santosh Hegde, who also happens to a member of Team Anna. Then also, the BJP had described the decision of the governor as an attack on the federal structure of the country. The party had accused the Congress-led UPA government of using governor appointed by it against chief ministers in BJP-ruled states. The Congress had then also accused the BJP of practising double standards on grounds that on one hand it supports the Lokpal movement of Anna Hazare and on the other it is protecting a corrupt chief minister. Finally, Karnataka chief minister had to resign.

However, what the Congress leaders, particularly Digvijaya Singh, forgot in both the cases that the principle applied by the governor for their respective decisions was based on the 2004 verdict of the five member Bench of the Supreme Court which was related to misuse of power to protect corrupt ministers by non other than Digvijaya Singh as chief minister of Madhya Pradesh in 1998. Then the governor of Madhya Pradesh was Bhai Mahavir appointed by the BJP-led NDA government. BR Yadav and Rajendra Kumar Singh, the two ministers in Digvijaya Singh’s cabinet, were accused of allotting 7.5 acres of land owned by Indore Development Authority to a private party on nominal rates, which resulted in huge loss to the state exchequer.

After conducting an inquiry, the Lokayukta sought the governor’s permission for prosecution. The governor sought advice from the council of ministers headed by Singh. The latter refused to accord sanction saying there was no material available against the ministers in the case. But the governor gave the sanction. The ministers challenged the order in the High Court which ruled in their favour.

The High Court order was challenged in the Supreme Court, where a five-member Constitution Bench on November 5, 2004, in a landmark verdict ruled that the governor can grant prosecution against the advice of the council of ministers, if the latter is biased. The bench observed: “The democracy will be at stake, if the government refuses to accord sanction for prosecution against ministers in matters where prima facie a clear case for a prosecution was made out. It would lead to a situation where people in power may break law with impunity, safe in knowledge that they will not be prosecuted as requisite sanction for prosecution will not be granted.”However, by that time Singh and Congress were out of power, hence no action was taken against them.

Clearly, nobody, be it BJP or Congress or for that matter other political parties, when in power, want a strong ombudsman to keep an eye on them. It was also evident when the Lokpal bill was placed in parliament on December 27. During the debate in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, every party took position to draw maximum political mileage from the bill and at the same time prevent it from becoming a law. From reservation to federalism and immunity for MPs, everything was tried to stall the bill. The Lokpal proposed in the bill was weak and would have made no difference even if approved by parliament and given a constitutional status as desired by the Gandhi scion Rahul. But even the weak version of the bill was not acceptable to the political parties. The parties were worried about federal structure, ie, rights of the state but not about the denial of basic rights of food and shelter to 60% of the people living below poverty line in the country. The parties fought for reservation of various caste and communities in the Lokpal panel but none asked for one per cent quota for the honest poor aam aadmi.

Even during the Lokpal movement, all the political parties befooled the common people. The BJP took a position that it was with anti-corruption campaign and took a high moral ground during Lokpal debate in parliament but has now inducted expelled BSP leader Babu Singh Kushwaha, who is prime suspect in Rs 5,000 crore National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam in which three medical officers were also murdered in UP. Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi in his public meetings in UP has been accusing previous government, particularly that of Samajwadi Party of harbouring criminals. In his every public meeting Rahul has said that in SP regime, goons used to run police stations but he himself has given tickets to two candidates who have been convicted for assaulting policemen in full public view. While Dileep Verma was fielded from Nanpara, Kuldeep Chaudhary was candidates from Shrvasti. However, both could not file their nominations for elections as court did not provide them relief. The Congress has now fielded wives of these two convicted candidates. Besides these convicted candidates, we also saw how Congress leaders and ministers beat up a boy who showed black flag to Rahul in Phulpur near Allahabad on November 14.

It’s not only Congress and BJP. All political parties have given tickets to candidates with corrupt and criminal background. They all joined hands to sabotage Lokpal movement as none of them are clean when it comes to corruption. Many politicians would be behind bars, if a strong Lokpal is in place.

The aam aadmi has resigned to his/her fate and compromised with the system. He/she has accepted the fact that corruption is integral part of politics. So much so that they don’t vote for honest people anymore. The general feeling is ‘sub chor hain’ and ‘woh neta theek hai jo khaye par kam kara de’.

But is there any solution? As Rabindranath Tagore said “You can’t cross a sea by merely staring into the water”, we need to find a way out.

The answer at this point of time is Anna Hazare. The Congress described Anna’s movement as RSS-BJP show to divert public attention from its misdeed. The BJP tried to take political advantage of the movement. However, we saw that both are not serious on the issue of corruption and criminal elements in politics. Many do not agree with the ideology and working style of Team Anna. Nobody is perfect. But we must acknowledge that it was the pressure mounted by Team Anna with the support of the people which made Congress introduce Lokapal bill in parliament no matter even if it was weak. We must support Anna.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

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Ashish Tripathi is a special correspondent with The Times of India in Lucknow. He is a firm believer in Gandhi's talisman "Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man/woman whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him/her. Will he/she gain anything by it? Will it restore him/her to a control over his/her own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."

Ashish Tripathi is a special correspondent with The Times of India in Lucknow. He is a firm believer in Gandhi's talisman "Whenever you are in doubt, or whe. . .